


Spring Fever

by Yadirocks



Series: To Play Like a Cardinal [4]
Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Angst, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 22:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6026931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yadirocks/pseuds/Yadirocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard to go from being in the action to being a bystander.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spring Fever

Being hurt sucked, Carlos realized. Everyone else was bustling around, preparing for the upcoming Spring Training while he sat in the bullpen with nothing to do but fill water bottles for his friends and watch all the other pitchers throw bullpen sessions. He couldn't complain to Mike. Matheny would just laugh at Carlos and say something along the lines of, "If you're bored, I'm sure I can find you something to do." Having absolutely nothing to do was better than running poles or counting how many plastic Gatorade cups they still had left over from the season before. 

It could be worse, he thought to himself as he stuck the toe of his shoe in the brick wall of the bullpen. He could be Yadi, who was stuck at Mike's side standing in the blazing Florida sun and constantly being pestered by the trainers to see how much strength his thumb had gained. Martinez was thankful his injury was just shoulder tightness and not something like a broken bone or torn ligament. He'd experienced first hand just how crazy trainers and coaches could be if you ever got a major injury. Waino had been sitting beside him one day the season before after having surgery to heal his torn Achilles tendon. Every five minutes, someone interrupted their conversation to ask Adam a series of questions. Martinez could never handle that. 

Trevor Rosenthal entered the bullpen suddenly, raising his eyebrows when he saw Carlos looking gloomier than ever and playing with the adjustment strings on his red glove. "Why so down in the dumps?" Rosey asked, plopping down beside Carlos and bumping his shoulder. Martinez hardly glanced up before averting his eyes back to his glove. As bored as he was, he didn't really feel like talking. He just wanted to hit or work on something important, but according to Mozeliak and Matheny, he wasn't ready yet. "I'm not," he finally answered, tossing his glove onto the padded bench and staring at Matt Holliday, who was taking some batting practice. He wished he were Holliday. Then he wouldn't be so sad. Sure, Holli had been injured most of the season before, but it was small injuries that set him back. It wasn't fair, not according to Carlos. He felt just fine. Why wasn't he allowed to do anything but 'rest?' 

"Well, clearly, you're in a bad mood," Trevor said, staring at Carlos with an odd look on his face. Then again, Trevor always had a weird look on his face. Carlos sighed, drawing his knees to his chest and laying his head on top of them. What was he supposed to say? It wasn't really hard to figure out that he wasn't happy. "So what?" he decided to go with, since he knew that Trevor wouldn't stop pestering until he gave him a response. 

Trevor shrugged. "Nothing, I guess," he said, brushing some dirt off his chest. It was silent for a while. A warm breeze calmed him somewhat. Carlos watched the palm trees outside of Roger Dean Stadium sway back and forth with the wind. It was a beautiful day in Jupiter, Florida, he noted. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and in the shade, it was a perfect seventy degrees. He was sure that in the hot sun, it probably felt more like eighty or ninety. Once again, his heart went out to Yadier, who was looking pretty grumpy himself. He rolled his eyes at something Michael said, and Wacha laughed hysterically. He didn't see Yadier pick up the rosin bag nearby, and certainly didn't have time to react when it hit him in the face, white powder flying in a puff of dust. Carlos smiled despite himself. He heard Yadier yell, "You forget, Mikey, that it is my left hand that is injured, not my throwing hand!"

When Carlos saw Adam making his way towards the two, Carlos decided that he would at least rather be in the outfield with his friends than stuck inside the shade of the bullpen, moping and feeling sorry for himself. He knew that Mike had told him to stay put in the bullpen, but he really didn't care at this point. It wasn't like Carlos was crippled or something. 

Trevor yelled, "Don't forget to tell Mikey that that rosin makes him look beautiful!"

Michael glanced back at the bullpen, and yelled back, "Thank you, I might try it again sometime!"

Carlos sat down in the grass next to Yadi, who was stretching his legs. He was in a trump twist, his eyes closed so he wasn't blinded by the sun. "I am guessing that you got tired of being bored?" Yadier asked as he turned and stretched the other side. 

Wainwright sat down beside Michael. "Technically, Yadi, you did that in 2014," he said with a smirk. 

Yadier sat up, squinting at Adam. "Only because you made me come to every single one of your bullpen sessions to point out your flaws. I could've sat there all day picking them out," he teased.

It went silent as Yadier continued stretching and the other three watched Jhonny Peralta step into the batting cage. "Watch out," Michael whispered in his ear. "JP likes to line them into center. He can't hit them anywhere else. It's honestly scary for the centerfielder, which happens to be us right about now."

Everyone watched him bat warily. Michael took a drink of his water bottle, but he dropped it and it spilled right on Adam's pants. "Mikey, you idiot!" Waino exclaimed, throwing the bottle back at the younger pitcher. "Now I look like I peed myself!"

"This is why we can't have nice things," Michael said with the shake of his head. Yadier laughed. "Are you implying that you're the reason we can't have nice things, Mikey? That explains a lot."

Carlos found himself laughing too. Adam glanced back at Peralta, and then looked up. His eyes landed on Carlos, and that's when they all saw the red seams of a baseball heading faster and faster towards Carlos' face. He only had time to do one thing, and that was turn his shoulder towards the ball...unfortunately, his hurt shoulder. He braced for impact, but it never happened. He opened his eyes, surprised.

That's when he saw Yadier holding the ball in his left hand. He seemed to be frozen right where he was. Adam took the ball from his hand, just in time as Yadier bit his lip against the pain that coursed through his hand. Adam gently guided his hand towards himself, sucking in his breath and releasing a sigh when he saw that the splint had not been harmed. "It's okay. The splint is fine." 

The other two breathed sighs in relief. Yadier was still biting his lip, and whispered something in Spanish that Carlos translated to curse words. "You should probably get some ice on that anyway, Yadi," Michael said as he scooted closer. "Your palm looks like it's swelling up."

Yadier nodded, and Adam helped him up. Before he could walk away, Carlos hugged Yadier. "Gracias," he whispered in his ear. The catcher simply gave a short nod. Then he said, "Don't tell Mike about this."

As he watched Adam lead Yadier towards the clubhouse, Carlos whispered, "I won't. I promise."

Michael stood up with a yawn. "He got lucky," he said, opening one eye as he stretched his back. "Practice is almost over. Mike won't have time to ask any questions. Yadier flies out of this place faster than a bird. You got lucky too. Mike would've been all, 'You should've been in the bullpen', and you would've been all, 'But Mike, I got bored with being bored', and then I would've been like, 'Boy, Mike is gonna murder you', and then-"

"Mikey, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Can you shut up?"


End file.
